About our Branch

The Kernersville Branch Library, located in historic
downtown Kernersville, serves the Town of Kernersville and surrounding areas of
Forsyth County. The basement of the 10,000-square-foot building houses the Senior
Enrichment Center. The town owns the building and leases it to the Forsyth County
Public Library (FCPL).

The diverse suburban community served by Kernersville Library includes a booming
population of Asians, Indians, and Hispanics. The area provides convenient access
to Greensboro and High Point, as well as Winston-Salem, NC.

William Durham is the branch manager of this busy institution.

Branch History

As early as 1948, there was a Kernersville deposit library located in a store owned
by W.E. Linville. In May 1958, FCPL opened the Kernersville Branch Library in the
vacant town jail building. On November 5, 1960, the Library moved to a tiny building
in Harmon Park, which originally was the office othe the late D.W. Harmon and later
served as the Town Hall. When Zora Sapp Paddison died in April 1966, she bequeathed
funds to the town for a library to be built as a memorial to her husband, Dr. John
R. Paddison, a local physician.

The John R. Paddison Memorial Library building was dedicated on December 6, 1970,
and opened to the public on January 15, 1971. At a cost of more than $400,000, a
committee of townspeople supervised the construction. One of Mrs. Paddison’s specifications
in her will was that a memorial room be set aside for her husband’s memory. Furnishings
in the Paddison Room include the doctor’s medical equipment, as well as many items
from their home.

The downstairs included a room to be rented out, a kitchen, and some offices to
be used by town personnel. The bequest also specified a $10,000 trust for the upkeep
of the facility.

In conjunction with the opening of the new building in 1971, Betty Turock was appointed
librarian, and Marion Swaim was appointed assistant librarian.

In September 2002, the Sprint Nextel Corporation donated five computers and a year
of free DSL access to the Library. Renovations to the building, including the installation
of a new circulation desk, began June 10, 2006. The newly remodeled Kernersville
Library opened on June 25, 2006.